US vs UK Jollibee | Food Wars
From calorie count to portion sizes, we ordered everything on the UK and US Jollibee menus to find out the big differences between the two.
- We tried everything on the UK and US Jollibee menus to find out the big differences between the two.
- While the two fast food chains look similar on the surface there were differences between the sizes, calories, and ingredients.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Following is a transcript of the video.
Harry: From calorie count to portion sizes, we wanted to find out all the differences between Jollibee in the UK and the US. This is "Food Wars."
PORTION SIZES
In the UK, Jollibee serves their famous Chickenjoy in six portion sizes, starting with a one-piece. Next up, we've got a two-piece. A three-piece that comes with a side.
In the US, you can get your Chickenjoy in five different portions. A one-piece with a side. A two-piece, also with a side.
Harry: We move to a three-piece.
Harry: I'm so excited to try this. It's my first-ever taste of Jollibee fried chicken. [crunching]
Joe: Not my first time, Harry.
Harry: Oh, that's good. That's really good. I don't know how it stayed so crispy.
Joe: The next sizes up are buckets of chicken. You can get a bucket in six or bucket of 10.
Harry: Buckets from a UK Jollibee come in three sizes, starting with a six-piece.
Joe: Then from there, we move up to an eight-piece bucket. And last but by no means least, our biggest portion size is a bucket of 12. Should've got a bigger plate.
Harry: I'm gonna eat some more. It's really good. [slow romantic saxophone music]
I just love chicken, and this is a good example of it. [crunching] [romantic music]
These little crispy bits that fall off your chicken, gold dust.
Let's each weigh our six-piece buckets to see if the Chickenjoy in one country is bigger than the other. It's time for some Jenga. One.
Joe: Ah!
Harry: Two.
Joe: We have over 100 grams more chicken! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I realize this is so arbitrary. The size of the meats, the amount of coating, but it's nice to win regardless. [laughs]
Harry: The chicken at Jollibee also comes in the form of tenders. In the UK, these are served in four portion sizes. As a single tender.
Joe: What? One piece? One piece? Who's getting one chicken tender? As two tenders.
Harry: There's a portion of three tenders, and, finally, as a portion of four.
Joe: One chicken tender? I've never heard of that, anywhere. Well, here in America, we have normal portion sizes for our chicken tenders. You can get them in three pieces, six pieces - I think three is not enough, but OK. Three pieces, six pieces, 10 pieces. Whoa! Or 16. ♪ Yeah! ♪ Tenders. How do you like that?
Harry: Yeah, there's a little bit more going on there. I like it. Little bit of heat to it.
Joe: The batter seems different. It has more of, like, the buttermilk flavor to it, of, like, the coating.
Harry: Yeah. Garlic mayo, always. Who needs ranch when you have garlic mayo?
Joe: Who needs garlic mayo when you have ranch? [bell ringing]
Joe: Ranch is far superior to garlic mayo, no question. Hell, yeah. Love ranch.
Harry: A worthy addition.
Joe: Ranch is way better. Herbs and spices?
Harry: Aren't they, like, basically the same thing?
Then we're on to some Jollibee specialities. Now, one iconic dish is this one. This is the Jolly spaghetti. Now, this is a dish made of spaghetti with some cheese, as well as a sweet-style sauce, which is, I think, made with, like, banana ketchup and some meats as well, and then it's topped with hot-dog slices. In the UK, this only comes as one portion size.
Joe: That's a cute size you got there, Harry, but here in the US, we have three sizes. Our regular portion, our family portion, and the party portion. Look at this. This is supposed to be eight to 10 people. It's like a lasagna. Look at that.
Harry: Now, according to a friend of mine from the Philippines, the pro move is to dunk the chicken into the spaghetti sauce. So let's give that a try. The cold cheese isn't doing it any favors, I'll be honest. [crunching] OK.
Joe: Yeah.
Harry: It's actually not bad.
Joe: It's a bit misleading, because their spaghetti is actually, the sauce is sweet. Very good. Yeah, together, that's really good. Then we're on to the burgers.
Harry: Now, Jollibee is famous for its Yumburgers, which is a beef burger with its signature burger sauce. In the UK, these come as either a single or as a double.
Joe: Over here in the US, you can get the classic Yumburger, or this, the double Yumburger.
Don't want a bun for your burger, you say? Jollibee has you covered. They have something called the burger steaks, patties of burgers smothered in their mushroom gravy. You can get them in two patties, three patties, or the six-patty family pack.
Harry: Over here, the burger steaks only come as a two-piece.
Joe: In the US, you can get a side of white rice.
Harry: We only have one size, and it's this one right here.
Joe: Same here. Our rice just comes in one portion, and it's wrapped up like this, very cute.
Largest thing on a US Jollibee menu is this, the Chickenjoy Bucket Treat D. As in daaaamn! I want to eat this all. 10 pieces of chicken, five sides, and five of the peach mango pies. All of this for a reasonable price of $30.
Harry: This is the biggest thing on a UK Jollibee menu. It's a 12-piece family feast, and with one of these, you get a 12-piece bucket of Chickenjoy, two sides of fries, two chicken burgers, four chicken tenders, six dips, and a 1.5-liter bottle of a soda of your choosing.
NUTRITION
Harry: I just want to start this section by giving a shout-out to Jollibee. Their nutritional information for the UK wasn't publicly available when we were looking, but we asked them to share it with us, and they actually did. So gold star for you guys. Everyone else, take note.
Joe: The information is publicly available in the US, so no special request needed over here.
Harry: We now know that an average three-piece from a UK Jollibee, assuming they give you a drum, a thigh, and a breast, would come to 1,059 calories. I'd be lying if I said this was good for you. The calories themselves aren't too bad. However, there's just over 100% of your daily sodium allowance in here, as well as around 80% of your daily fat.
Joe: A drum, thigh, and breast from a US Jollibee comes to 920 calories. So our Chickenjoy actually has fewer calories than the UK equivalent, as well as less than half the sodium content.
Harry: In both countries, there are some differences in the nutritional stats between the different cuts of chicken. For example, a Chickenjoy thigh is the most calorific cut, whereas a Chickenjoy breast is the highest in sodium.
Joe: If you're looking to cut back on calories, ask them to only give you drums. Three drums in the US are around 660 calories. Three thighs, on the other hand, will set you back 1,140 calories, a 72% increase.
Harry: It's a similar deal in the UK. Three drumsticks would come to 777 calories, whereas three thighs would come to 1,299. That's a 67% increase.
Joe: OK, what about the most calorific thing on the entire menu? That'd be this, the spaghetti party pack. One of these contains 5,000 calories as well as 10,000 milligrams of sodium. So therefore it is the most sodium-rific thing in the history of "Food Wars." Congratulations. This is designed to feed eight to 10 people, yes. But if there's anyone out there who is eating one of these on their own, listen to me. You gotta stop.
Harry: Over in the UK, the highest calorie rating would obviously be the 12-piece bucket. Now, depending on the cuts of chicken you get, the calories in here could range anywhere from 3,060 to 5,196. Even if they maxed out the calories and gave you all thighs in here, it would still somehow contain less sodium than the spaghetti party pack.
INGREDIENTS
Harry: Unfortunately, Jollibee in the UK does not disclose its ingredients. The only thing we were able to find was an allergen chart. It's pretty comprehensive, but there's nothing too shocking in there. The only thing that might surprise you is that there's lots of celery and mustard use across the Jollibee menu.
Joe: Same in the US. The only ingredients info we could find on the US website is that the mangoes in the peach mango pies are made from real Philippine mangoes. These mangoes are incredibly sweet. They're actually in the Guinness Book of World Records for said sweetness.
Plus, I, Joe Avella, give them the award for fast-food dessert excellence, because these pies are the best. I love them so much. [inhales] Ah, these things are so good.
Looking over the US allergen list, it appears that the burgers at US Jollibee have fish allergens in them. Now, I don't know if that's something with the meat or the sauces, perhaps cross contamination while being prepared, I have no idea.
EXCLUSIVES
Harry: Here is everything you will find on Jollibee's UK menu that you won't find in the US.
Joe: And here's everything at a US Jollibee you cannot get in the UK.
Harry: Let's start with some chicken. Now, in the UK, we have an exclusive burger, which is the tropical chicken burger. It's a chicken burger which is served on a brioche bun with cheese, lettuce, Asian ginger chili sauce, and a ring of pineapple as well. Our next chicken option is this one, the Asian chicken rice bowl. It's a bowl with some chopped-up chicken tenders, some rice, and an Asian-style slaw.
Joe: For our chicken sandwiches, we have the chicken sandwich deluxe. Generous with the mayo. Jollibee, your chicken sandwich is hovering around a McChicken level. Love the McChicken, but I wouldn't send the McChicken into a war, and certainly I would not send the Jollibee chicken sandwich deluxe. It's good. It's not fantastic. What I bet is awesome, though, is the spicy chicken sandwich. Yeah, look at that. They got the sriracha on there, you see that in the bun? Oh, and jalapeños, now? OK. This is actually very good. This might be, I might send this guy into battle. [war cry]
Harry: Moving away from the chicken options, we have this, which is the Jolly hot dog. Exclusive burgers, we have the big Yumburger and a personal favorite, the Aloha burger. It's got pineapple, you see that? And underneath there, bacon. I love this burger. I gotta take a bite. A fantastic burger. Highly recommend it.
Joe: Exclusive sides you can only get at the US Jollibee include mashed potatoes. I don't care. And the adobo rice. This thing is a brick of rice. They are generous with the rice. Man, it's packed in there. There's spices and a little bit of, like, meat in here. That's good, yeah. This would be a good side. It's a good call on this side. I like that a lot. Everyone's favorite segment, Sauce Talk.
Man: Sauce Talk.
Harry: We have four sauces that you won't find in the US, and they are as follows: We have a Buffalo sauce; sriracha mayo, which in my opinion is one of, if not the best, condiment. Then we have a sweet chili sauce, and, finally, we have an Asian ginger chili sauce. Creamy sriracha, ranch, I'm very fascinated with this, a pineapple barbecue. I've never tried the Asian ginger chili sauce before. Ooh, I like it. Yeah, that's good. Ooh, some heat. Whoo! Definitely hot. You can see, like, chili flakes kind of floating around in there, and that's not a red herring.
Joe: Pineapple barbecue. Pine apple barbecue. That's fantastic barbecue sauce. This tastes a lot like a sweeter, creamier version of McDonald's standard barbecue sauce. If they sold this in retail, I would absolutely buy it. That's very good. Wow! I love you, Jollibee.
Harry: OK. Jollibee has a few breakfast offerings in - [clears throat] Asian ginger chili sauce. Powerful. We're fine. Jollibee in the UK has a few breakfast options on offer. We'll start at this end with the breakfast burger steak. Next up, we've got the breakfast Chickenjoy. Our third option is the breakfast hot dog, but instead of the chicken or the burger, you can just get a hot dog on the side. And the last breakfast option is a breakfast Yumburger.
We have one exclusive drink at a UK Jollibee, and it's this, the pineapple juice. The color on this is, like, darker than what I'm used to for pineapple juice. Yep, it's pineapple juice. Like it.
Joe: A US exclusive that I wanted to share with you guys was the Jollibee breakfast, but as you can see, I don't have it. According to the Jollibee I went to, about a month or two before filming this, Jollibee decided to start phasing out the breakfast because no one was getting it. Now, I don't know if that's just the ones in this area or nationally, but for the most part, I think Jollibee no longer has breakfast, so, sorry, guys.
And, finally, we have two exclusive dessert options. Here we have the mango coconut sundae as well as a chocolate coconut sundae. The mango peach pies, I cannot believe you can't get these in the UK. That is a crime. [crunching] This might be the best fast-food dessert. Yes, really. This is so great. [slow romantic music] Mm. See, like, I'm on my third bite, and it's already gone. These pies are incredible. You have to have one of these pies. And this delicious, refreshing halo-halo. This is so refreshing. Whatever they're doing, they're doing it well. Would you like some? [crunching] That's very good. Producer: This is really tasty. This blows KFC out of the water for me, though.